“Nothing can hold back the night”

In the beginning
There was the cold and the night
Prophets and angels gave us the fire and the light
Man was triumphant
Armed with the faith and the will
That even the darkest ages couldn’t kill

Too many kingdoms
Too many flags on the field
So many battles, so many wounds to be healed
Time is relentless
Only true love perseveres

It’s been a long time and now I’m with you
After two thousand years

This is our moment
Here at the crossroads of time
We hope our children carry our dreams down the line
They are the vintage
What kind of life will they live?
Is this a curse or a blessing that we give?

Sometimes I wonder
Why are we so blind to fate?
Without compassion, there can be no end to hate
No end to sorrow
Caused by the same endless fears

Why can’t we learn from all we’ve been through
After two thousand years?

There will be miracles
After the last war is won
Science and poetry ruling the new world to come

Prophets and angels
Gave us the power to see
What an amazing future there will be

And in the evening
After the fire and the light
One thing is certain: Nothing can hold back the night

Time is relentless
And as the past disappears
We’re on the verge of all things new

We are two thousand years

We might not get through this. Many lives will be lost. Many people will be irrevocably scarred. If you have true love in your heart, I have true love for you. I mourn with you. Even if we’re not okay. Even if the country falls apart. You matter to me.

Stay safe. Take care of yourselves. Find solace where you can, even if only for a moment. For me, that’s believing that there will be miracles after the last war is won. I love you.

JennyTrout

37 Comments

Amanda

I am so sad today. Thank you for sharing this. I hope we make it through, and if we do the only way to do so is together. Let’s make sure we put aside our hate and anger and do what we can to stay strong. It’s gonna be a wild ride.

I want to start by saying I love your books and I love your writing. Then say, I’m unsure what the above is about.

“Many lives will be lost, scarred, country falling apart”??? Why? Because Hillary didn’t get elected and he did? We’re stronger than that! Our lives will not be lost, our country will not fall apart. We have fought fierce battles, horrible wars, climbed bloody hills and died on foreign soils and we’re going to fall apart over a person getting elected that some of us didn’t want? NO WAY!

How many times did others feel that way when their choice didn’t go into office? This is no different. We are laying far too much power on this election. I do not agree at all. Sorry, but that’s still our right to do so!

Only if we protect each other and refuse to allow the disenfranchisement of all the people Trump has promised to attack. Life is going to get harder for Muslims, immigrants, and so many other people he and his supporters have decided to scapegoat for the countries problems.

You realize people died in the AIDS crisis because we elected a man who did not care? Have hope, please have hope, but don’t you fucking dare dismiss the fears of people who know exactly what we have to lose.

Lives might indeed be lost or scarred. Stop/frisk will send more disenfranchised minorities to prison, where their lives will be either scarred or lost. Anti-abortion laws will continue to propagate, scarring the lives of many women (maybe costing us the lives of women too). Muslims will be harassed and vilified by their own neighbors, scarring their lives and those of their children growing up in a hostile environment. Hate crimes will cost us the lives of people.

I understand your assessment that one bad election won’t destroy the country, but it doesn’t mean you can erase the damage that will be done to many people who are minorities/women/POC/etc. People don’t have to die in battle for their fate to be tragic, we have plenty of people here in danger. Please don’t minimize our worry, our fear, our very well grounded anxiety over the wellness of many people in this country that matter to us. Just because you are not worried doesn’t mean some of us don’t feel threatened.

Effing THIS. Right here. I know I don’t have as much to fear as some, but as a woman the thought of losing rights that we fought tooth and nail to secure terrifies me. The fact that there are people out there who have no problem harassing/assaulting us because, well, the president did it, terrifies me. The fact that IT’S ALREADY HAPPENING terrifies me. Yeah, I won’t get deported, but you bet your ass I’m scared.

I have a FB acquaintance who said that because of her husband’s illness, they are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. He will need constant care for the rest of his life. His medical bills total somewhere around $40k a month. Without the ACA, they will not be able to afford care. He is “uninsurable”. He will die.

People are going to die. Be grateful that you’re in a position where you can disagree with that.

I have family members with incurable cancers that require expensive treatments to keep said cancers from progressing and killing them. If healthcare is destroyed and research that can benefit them is halted, they will likely suffer and die.

I have friends who are bi, friends who are trans, family members who are gay. The vice president elect believes we can use electric shocks to “fix” them. The will be scarred by this sort of idea. Pense and Trump both normalized bigoted speech against them, and I’m that did nothing to slow down those who would do them harm. They may be scarred and I know they fear for their lives in this climate.

I have friends who are people of color, who belong to non-Christian religions, who are immigrants. Trump spewed hatred and bigotry and now there are more people who think cruel words and threats against them are acceptable. They will be scarred. They may die.

Can you imagine children from these groups being faced with this hatred? They will be scarred.

I’ve voted and lost before. I was disappointed. This time, I am terrified for my friends and family. This is different.

I think part of the problem is that not only did the Republican Nominee get elected, the Republicans took control of Congress and Senate. These representatives have some truly draconian policies. Like making it harder to access abortion services and the defense of christian marriage. How many times in the last 8yrs did they vote to repeal the affordable care act only to be held at bay by the democratic majority? They now have absolutely no impediments to pushing through and rolling back any agendas they want. You like having legal recreational marijuana use in California, Colorado, Washington etc? Or even having access to medical marijuana use? Well the Republicans now get to appoint the next Supreme court justice, and the Supreme Court can strike down those laws to legalize it. How about the fact that one of Trump’s policies that he ran on was the dismantling of the EPA?

That’s why some people are taking this election really, really hard. It’s not about bipartisan politics and tantrums that their guy didn’t get in. It’s about recognizing that your country is about to go through some very serious damage.

Right! I’m British and today I feel something very similar to what I felt a few months back when a narrow majority of my voting compatriots voted to leave the European Union.

A lot of us voiced our concerns and got shouted down by “the other side” with all this “we won, you lost, get over it” and accusations of being “poor losers” and unable to accept they won fair and square.

They don’t understand this is more important than the playground game they seem to think we see it as. This is our country’s future at stake. Our future. Our children’s future.

We are genuinely worried and scared about what will happen and we are pretty sick of being told to sit down and shut up and accept we’ve “lost” when we try to talk about it.

I’m sorry, all you decent Americans, because this is what you’re going to go through now.

I have preexisting health conditions, and I am very sick. When the ACA is repealed, I will lose access to the healthcare that is keeping me alive. It’s a cliche, but check your damn privilege when you say that “our” lives won’t be lost. I am part of the “us” that is this country, and I very literally may not survive the next four years. The people of color who will be shot by police who will now not receive racial bias training are part of “us.” The Muslims who will be the victims of hate crimes are part of “us.” The LGBT children who will kill themselves after their parents send them to conversion therapy are part of “us.” The women who will die from sepsis after back-alley abortions are part of “us.” The Syrians who will be denied refuge and left to die may not be part of “us,” but they should have been. Real human beings are going to die because of this election, and it’s very nice that it’s all academic to you, but it sure as hell isn’t for a lot of people.

It fills me with rage every time I’m reminded that Americans have to *pay money* to receive fundamental and life-saving healthcare and treatment. I just don’t understand how anyone thinks that’s OK. I’m so sorry.

At least one American on my twitter time line will lose her medications should the ACA be repealed. They are keeping her alive. She’s already looking at her options of moving to Canada, less than 24 hours after the election result. Her partner is Canadian, and that’s her best hope to keep living.

Even I can see the damage coming, and I’m in little Tasmania, the small island Australia keeps forgetting it has.

What stuns me is so many American voters support these actions. They want people to suffer and die. It isn’t a case of being lied to and finding out the reality later (which to some extent was our recent experience with PM Tony Abbott). The Republicans have been completely upfront about their plans and enough Americans think that is a grand idea they voted in Trump to ensure it happens.

Tony Abbott made plenty of sexist, homophobic and racist comments prior to being elected as Prime Minister though so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone when those comments aligned with his actual beliefs, unless they were totally caught up in what Murdoch was selling. Worse still is Malcolm Turnbull, who has sold out any principles he might have once had in order to have the top job. And yet I don’t think either of them are as dangerous as Trump. Even though all of them have and will continue to cause untold suffering to the most vulnerable within both our societies.

Personally, I wasn’t surprised re Tony Abbott. His statements on the eve of the election about no cuts to various organisations etc wasn’t remotely believable to me personally, however, it seemed to surprise people when he immediately backflipped on everything. I find his beliefs, as demonstrated over his time in parliament, to be awful.
I don’t think Australia will recover from the impact of Tony Abbott and his ilk for some time. The politics of fear as it is being played out around the world is so damaging and divisive.
I agree with you regarding the assessment of Trump vs our PMs. I’ve never been scared before of an election outcome. I wasn’t particularly happy with the Abbott election, and Turnbull’s disappointing showing, but not scared. I don’t think this is something that can just be lived through and then it will be okay after he’s gone. The potential impact of his actions will be far reaching and long lasting and not everyone is going to survive it. Which is frightening. To see people already planning to sell their homes and relocate to another country is surreal.
To top it all off, his supporters are already complaining he’s gone ‘soft’.
I cannot fathom how much hatred is pent up in a section of the American people, that this outcome is to be gloried and gloated over.

That’s a completely ridiculous comment. “They want people to suffer and die.” Given that rhetoric, with all of the people dying under Obama, by policeman, did he want people to suffer and die. He certainly didn’t help it or keep it from happening. Trump had nothing to do with that.

Secondly, all of the ACA comments, I had people whose businesses went under because they couldn’t afford the ACA for their families. That was not some great act for healthcare. It was expensive to people who owned small businesses and 2 of my friends lost their businesses because of it.

I don’t believe any president is either all bad or good. Why can’t we wait and see. This is becoming so overblown. Their were people who thought the world was ending when Obama was elected. It didn’t!!!

As for people from Syria, what about people here already? They are hungry, homeless and dying. We can’t seem to care for them properly should we then bring more in to care for? NO…we can’t afford it!!! We have people here with no jobs, who have served in armed forces, they are going without. Shouldn’t our attention be to those people first and then turn our care for others? Or, should we bring everyone in that we can and all go down singing, “What a Wonderful World”? We’ve got to be selfish at some point and rebuild and reboot. We are a giving people in America. We don’t turn a blind eye to the hurt and people who need care. The middle class can only fund so much. Where does all of this money supposedly come from to aid and care for all of the refugees that are seemingly wanted in the US? Just a question…..

I know this is not going to be a popular comment however, do we all have to believe the same thing? I believe the country was also founded on that principle.

Multiple people in these comments have talked about how losing the protections of the ACA could very literally cause our deaths and the deaths of people we love, and your response is “but it hurt my friends’ businesses”? You realize you just outright said that your friends’ financial success is worth more than my life, right? What the hell is wrong with you?

Also, it’s actually possible to pay to help homeless people in America AND Syrian refugees…if we actually raise taxes on millionaires rather than lower them. But no, let’s not do that. Fuck the homeless, fuck the refugees, and fuck sick people like me, because god forbid the rich can’t afford to gold-plate their yachts this year, and god forbid your friend’s artisanal towel-charm business have to provide actual benefits to its employees.

(I’m sorry if you don’t want arguments here, Jenny, and you can certainly delete this or tell me to shut up if you want, and I’ll abide by that. I’ve just sort of hit the limit on the amount of “golly gee, can’t we all just get along even though I think your life is worthless” bullshit I can take without blowing up at people.)

November 10, 2016

JennyTrout

Falalala, I’m on the same wavelength. I do not believe you can agree to disagree when the subject is “Should I be alive?”

November 10, 2016

Bunny

Thank you, Jenny. You are a light in this great darkness. I feel so sad today. It’s like why believe a woman is anything is country other than a body and face. I feel like nothing I do or feel matter anymore and perhaps never did. When I come here I find kindred spirits. Thank you again for your light.

All I can offer here is compassion and support. The international fallout of this is bound to be terrifying, and up here in Canada I am terrified wondering who will be hurt next in the world’s rising tide of hatred.

Thank you for the perspective, Jenny. Billy Joel was right about that, too.

I don’t live in America, but I am so upset by the result of this election. I hope that wiser, more compassionate people around Trump will influence him and that he will turn out to be just a bored/boring president.

As a gay woman, I am horrified about what this country has become. I am particularly disappointed in the number of women who voted against their own interests. However, I have been a fighter my whole life and I intend to keep fighting. This will be a hard few years and they can do a lot of damage in the interim but we need to keep faith that the demographics are changing. We will prevail over these dinosaurs eventually.

I’m Dutch and many people here are horrified and so sad. I worry for my friends there, and for the rest of the world. He doesn’t believe in climate change, and I worry he might start another war. It’s a dark day, but hopefully in 4 years, we’ll be able to look back on this like we do at Y2K. One can hope.

All we can do now is fight the good fight, keep compassion in our hearts and put it out there as best as we can. We have to stand up for ourselves and our friends and family against whatever is to come. I still believe in humanity as a whole and I still believe in people. I can only hope that good people continue to be good people and do good things and spread that goodness as far as they can. I have to have hope because to not have any is something I simply cannot abide.

I’m white, but I’m also a woman and an atheist. I don’t know that I will be personally affected by the Pussy Grabber’s policies, but I assume I will based on those two things I mentioned that Trump has specifically singled out. As a woman, his repealing the ACA, repealing Roe v. Wade, his disregard for women’s bodies in general, all have an affect on me. As does his wish to instituting a state religion in a country founded on freedom of religion.

But even if I’m not affected, there are plenty of people around me, strangers, those who I will never meet but whom I worry about and want them to do well. I don’t know that all of us will come to harm from Trump’s policies, but I don’t know that we won’t, either. That’s what I fear right now — the unknown. I don’t know that we, all of us, the people that Trump has vilified repeatedly, are going to be okay together.

I’m in Australia, and many people here are shocked and sad, but I can’t imagine how it must feel to live in the US right now.

Maybe for some people this is just “win some, lose some”, I don’t know. But the election of a man with skin thinner than an onion, who has a lack of impulse control that means he can’t be trusted with his own Twitter account, is a frightening proposition for those of us in countries with the US as our major military ally and trading partner.

Ooh, do us a favor when TrumpleThinSkin and his spouse come for a visit down under: Please make a big banner that they can read coming off the plane reads “Welcome, First Bimbo. And Melania, too.” If he has a mistress at that point, you can add “And First Pussy, too.”

If I did that the new forming Nigger Hunter squads get me for treason.

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